Community

Community leaders, elected officials and eastern North Carolina residents came together on Jan. 20 for the 28th annual Community Unity Breakfast, hosted by the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce.

The event brings together the community to reflect upon the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while celebrating and expanding diversity initiatives in Greenville and Pitt County.

ECU Health sponsored the event along with other organizations in the area and had the opportunity to present a speaker. Brian Floyd, chief operating officer of ECU Health, represented the system and shared a few words.

Floyd said the word that stands out to him the most during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is love. He related harmony in a community to the harmony couples seek in relationships with others.

ECU Health COO Brian Floyd speaks during the 28th annual Community Unity Breakfast in Greenville
ECU Health Chief Operating Officer Brian Floyd speaks during the 28th annual Community Unity Breakfast in Greenville

“The hardest thing sometimes is to put ourselves aside in the interest of someone else,” Floyd said. “Yet, relationships and marriages are hard – and that’s when you choose to be with someone you share common values, beliefs and interests with. If we can see that, then certainly we must recognize that living in a community and being in harmony together requires a little bit of work and self-reflection.”

He said ECU Health is proud to see unity in nine hospitals and more than 225 clinics across the health system each day through the life-saving care team members provide. The 1.4 million people ECU Health serves and the 15,000-plus team members are all unique, but care and love is the same.

Floyd also said training students from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and nursing students from ECU and other local colleges is a privilege and opportunity to pass on the importance of love and care for patients.

“If you read behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., you’ll note that love is at the core of the unifying work of bringing people together. We all want to come together and do this really important work to love and care for eastern North Carolina,” Floyd said. “If you ever see the life-saving moments, when our team of 15 or 20 excellent, well-trained people come together around a patient, it always fascinates me how different they all are. They look different, they sound different, they come from incredibly different places and backgrounds. Yet they work in really great harmony in those urgent crisis moments because the need of the patient is coming first.”

Portia Willis, Greenville City Council member, gave the keynote speech during the event. Willis is also the co-founder of Young Scholars and Leaders Institute. Chad Tucker, director of Volunteer Services at ECU Health Medical Center, serves as co-chair of the Community Unity Planning Committee and introduced Willis.

Willis spoke on a number of topics during the event but came back to the refrain that the answer to challenges we face are in the communal “us.” From issues we might face on a team, in business or as a community, it’s on us to come together and work toward solutions.

“This morning, we’re reminded not only of the words of Dr. King, but the example he set. Today is a call to action, a vision of equality and a commitment to the higher ideals of justice, peace and unity,” Willis said. “Dr. King once said, ‘Life’s most persistent question is: What are you doing for others?’ Today as we reflect on those words, we’re reminded that service is not only an affect, but it’s a way of life.”

Portia Willis, Greenville City Council member, gave the keynote speech during the event.
Portia Willis, Greenville City Council member, gave the keynote speech during the event. (Photo Courtesy of Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce)
Chad Tucker, director of Volunteer Services at ECU Health Medical Center, serves as co-chair of the Community Unity Planning Committee and introduced the keynote speaker.
Chad Tucker, director of Volunteer Services at ECU Health Medical Center, serves as co-chair of the Community Unity Planning Committee and introduced the keynote speaker. (Photo Courtesy of Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce)